Now we’ve leveled the ground in terms of power play.You shouldn’t come messing with me, thinking you’re going to scare me when I have plays of my own, fucker.Papa taught me well.And I’m not opposed to showing a little leg if it throws you off your game.Use anything and everything at your disposal to keep his attention diverted from his mission, and his mission is to bury you for a crime that was simply self-defense.That’s not going to happen because underneath his Roselli name, he’s messing with a well-trained Cassone.
His partner clears his throat.Detective Loch rifles through his papers, bringing our attention to him while Brice composes himself.I would laugh if I could, but probably better for the situation at whole that I keep my amusement to myself.He had his guns drawn, was about to fire me with questions and lost his train of thought.Yes, I do find that amusing in the greatest of ways.
The burning intensity in Massimo’s eyes heating my skin right through my coat tells me I may be paying for my little show later, but it was worth it a thousand times over, no matter what the cost.I’d do it over and over again in a heartbeat.Detective Loch rifles his papers again, clearly a cue to get Detective Brice back in the game but I don’t give him a chance to say a word for Brice.“Detective Brice, you had a reason for being here, no?”I ask quietly.
He clears his throat again, oddly ill at ease.And if I were him with Massimo and Leandro glaring at him with those dark Roselli brothers’ eyes, I would be a little nervous too.“It’s come to our attention that you were actually on board the yacht the day the yacht exploded.Is that true?”
Brice doesn’t hold back with his punches; that’s for damn sure.How the hell could anyone have known I was on that yacht.I have no idea but what I do know for sure is that I’m not answering that question without talking to Massimo’s lawyer.I might flirt with danger a little if provoked, but I’m far from stupid.I give him my best smile and uncross my leg, crossing the other, letting my sexy strappy four-inch heel dangle in the air, as though contemplating his question.
I track the hard swallow of his throat.Uncomfortable in the skin he lives in is exactly where I want him, especially after that question.I glance at Massimo, who’s letting me have a moment no matter the restraint it’s taking not to intervene.I have no doubt it’s all about perception.He doesn’t have any choice but not to show emotion or play his over possessive hand.“When is Emil arriving?”I ask him as though I know the family attorney personally.
Massimo glances at the vibration of his phone.“That would be him now,” he says, taking a seat next to me.I turn to Detective Brice.“Great, you can ask our attorney what questions he wishes to answer or if he’d like to have us all take a ride to the police station and do this officially, yes?”
A tall handsome man walks in, placing his black leather briefcase on the side table, and takes a seat in a wing back chair by its side.He folds himself into the chair, rubbing his small clean goatee.He doesn’t take the time to allow any introductions, just dives right in.He gives Brice a pointed look.“You crossed the line the last time you were in my client’s home, and now you’re here again.I hope that today’s questions are a little more resigned and you can meet the level of decorum a detective of your caliber is expected to have.Now, let’s see what you have, then we can decide if we want to answer questions here or at the station, or if I need to connect with your superior and file an injunction to protect my clients.”
Detective Brice’s face gets red, but his partner just looks like he’s been dragged into something that makes him completely uncomfortable.I think every one of us sees the reactions, and personally, I think the lawyer made that statement simply for effect.Damn he’s good.Now I know why the Rosellis use him and his partner exclusively.They are known for their finesse when it matters and their ruthlessness in the courtroom when needed.
Brice stands all of a sudden, a burst of confidence, determination or something else fueling his adversarial position with these men of power.There’s something almost dogged about his stance and the way he’s trying to get information bypassing usual and accepted norms.“What I asked Massimo Roselli’s lady friend,” he starts, but doesn’t get the chance to finish.
“She’s my wife,” Massimo growls.
Brice nods.“Yes, I do recall seeing the affair plastered all over the paper.Somehow, I thought you were with Desiree Amorte, but neither here nor there.Regardless, mine was a fair question.I’ll repeat it now that your attorney is present, since he appears to be representing you both.Probably best given the situation.”He looks at me.“It’s come to our attention that you were on the yacht the day it exploded.Is that true?”
Emil places a hand on my shoulder, but he needn’t worried.I wasn’t going to answer it without his say so.He opens his briefcase and hands a piece of paper to Detective Brice.“I believe this may be why you’re so intent on getting information in this manner.My understanding is that you have a long history of good service with the police department, you and your partner both.I would suggest that you do not sully twenty years on the force, leaving the pension for your family in question, especially when dealing with a family such as the Amortes.Read the document and call me at the number at the bottom of it tomorrow.Share it with your partner since clearly, he’s been dragged into this mess right alongside you.
The color drains from Brice’s face as he reads it but he doesn’t say a word, just nods.“I’ll take it on advisement and connect with you tomorrow.”He gives me a curt nod, and strides out of the room, towards the door with a confused partner on his heels.
The minute the door is shut and I hear Elsie go upstairs, I shut the large French doors that close off the great room to the rest of the house.“Anyone like a drink, while someone tells me what that was all about?”
Massimo doesn’t say anything but walks with me to the bar.He pours a Delmar for each of the men and a glass of red wine for me.When everyone has a drink in hand he comes to sit beside me as I return to my seat.He starts to say something, and Emil clears his throat.“You’re sure?”
Massimo almost growls.“She’s my fucking wife.I trust her.”
Emil’s eyebrows arch as he assesses me.“I advise against it, but you’ll do what you want to do, Massimo.We both know that.”
Massimo ignores him and looks to Leandro, who gives him a nod.I give Leandro a thankful smile.We are longtime rivals, but he’s been a gentleman, saved me and his brother from the yacht, took things into hand, and has done everything in his power to protect both of us from the wrath of Massimo’s father, not that Massimo gave one damn bit or not about his father’s anger.Yet it was comforting knowing that Leandro didn’t feel the same hatred toward me that his father shows time and time again.
Emil clears his throat and then pointedly looks at me.“The Amortes are blackmailing Detective Brice.We thought maybe it was someone up the chain who was putting pressure on Detective Brice, but our men found the connection.His brother has a gambling problem and owes the Amortes more money than he can pay back in his lifetime.They are willing to wipe the debt clean in exchange for Brice getting, or our guess is, planting evidence that would lead a court of law to convict you on the murder of two of the Amorte boys.”
My breath leaves me in a nauseated gust.It’s not that I didn’t realize who we were dealing with, that all the families have their ways, just like my own, or that they wouldn’t stoop to whatever means possible to pay me and my family back for ruining their plans to have Massimo wed their daughter or for killing their men.Not because Desiree was jilted, which she was not, but because it means the Amortes will never be given the power that comes with Desiree carrying the Roselli last name.“What happens now?”
Massimo takes my hand.“We make sure that Detective Brice works for us going forward.We pay his brother’s debt, and we have eyes and ears for the rest of our life.But that doesn’t stop the Amortes from finding another person, and another, who they can hold something over their head.We need to cut the head of the snake off, capisce?”
Emil clears his throat.A not too subtle sign that Massimo may be telling me too much, but my husband is not to be shooshed.He ignores it.“We will find their weakness, expose it, and end the fuckers for good.No one goes after my wife without losing their fucking life.”
He and Leandro raise their glasses, and I don’t hesitate to join them.“Salute.”No matter that I didn’t want to be a part of this life, no matter that a Cassone was not who I wanted to be, and certainly never a Roselli, but I’ve learned quickly, it’s not something you choose.It’s family.
It’s something you were born into and a life that deserves strength, commitment, and the deepest of family love and bonds, and this, the men sitting in this room, fighting for me when they could have dumped me in the sea, makes me want to fight for our name, whether it be Cassone or Roselli.I want to fight for our family against a rival who wants to do us harm, the bastards who put my sister and father in danger, I want to see them in a bloody grave.“The Amortes will rue the day they ever crossed paths with a Roselli with Cassone blood.”
Massimo grins at Emil and Leandro.“That’s my wife.”
Leandro raises his glass in a silent gesture of support and comradery while Emil clears his throat.“On that note, I think I’ll go get a little work done.I’ll take the call tomorrow from Brice, have him sign the papers we’ve discussed,” he says to Massimo.
“Call me when it’s done, and thank you, Emil.I appreciate all the work that went into making it all come together once we got the information from our guys on the ground.”
He waves a hand in the air as he sees himself out.“Well, that was fucking good news.Came together nicely,” Leandro says, finishing the last of his Delmar and placing his empty glass on the bar.“Now, since the crisis is averted, I’ll get back to my night if you two don’t mind.”
Massimo finishes his own drink.“Don’t mind at all.Sophia and I have plans that don’t involve you.”Leandro grins and arches his eyebrows.“You do not need to say anything more.I’m on my way out,” he says, striding toward the door.
